Wahid Hamed to present ‘El-Gamaa’ part 3

CAIRO – 24 October 2017: The veteran Egyptian writer Wahid Hamed decided to present part 3 from his successful and controversial series “El-Gamaa.”

“El-Gamaa” part 3 is due to begin with the death of the leader Gamal Abdel Nasser on September 28, 1970. Hamed will review in this part the political and social status during Sadat's rule; highlighting the demonstrations that swept through the country at that time.

“El- Gamaa” part 2

Even before its last Ramadan release, there was a lot of hype around "El-Gamaa 2."
The series successfully attracted many viewers, not only in Egypt, but across the Arab world, given its strong script and topnotch performances.

The show, with a title that translates to ‘The Group,’ was expected to be controversial, as it delves into a hot topic: historical events related to the Muslim Brotherhood and the positions of national leaders including the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and former Al-Wafd Party leader Mostafa el-Nahas.

Hamed figures as the real star of this interesting series. He did a great job documenting the history of the Muslim Brotherhood group in the second part of the series, where he objectively attempts to expose their darkest secrets.

"El-Gamaa 2" started with the group in disarray after the assassination of their leader Hassan el-Banna in 1949. A new supreme leader, Hassan el-Hodeiby, was chosen – played convincingly by the icon Abdel Aziz Makhyoon. The real purpose of the brotherhood is not improving the society, but reaching power, and Hodeiby’s ideas are clear on that issue.

Part 2 highlighted the famous supreme leader Sayed Qutb – played convincingly by Mohamed Faheem – the controversial figure of the group who was a friend of Nasser.

His books were among Nasser’s favorite readings. Qutb was a mason, a mediocre poet, who belonged to a communist organization, but ended up being an Islamic thinker, believing in the most radical form of Islam. He is shown correctly as a spiteful, hateful, and jealous dictator in his regular daily life. Among his catastrophic ideas, which were adopted into the core of the group’s notions, was that the whole society is faithless, godless and should be re-indoctrinated into Islam.

The series shows the limited mindset the group possesses towards society. Their main concern was veiling women, closing down movie theaters, and stopping arts in general, because they believe it is against the rules of Islam. “El-Gamaa 2” included many difficult scenes written with dexterity, even scenes without dialogue.

The most difficult were the Manshiya scenes, when the attempt on Nasser’s life took place.

‘’El-Gamaa’’part 1
Aired in Ramadan 2010, the first part of “El-Gamaa” retold the origins of the Muslim Brotherhood and the detailed story of its founder Hassan al-Banna from his childhood until his assassination in 1949, over the span of 28 episodes. Seven years and two revolutions later, Wahid Hamed’s second part of the historical drama saw the light last Ramadan.